Help! headlight motors

[gusgus]

The headlight motors on my 95 coupe continue to run after the the lights are off and the engine is turned off. Of course this quickly drains the battery. Any suggestions as to a cause and a fix?

 

[Jerrys95vette]

Spinning HL Motors

It sounds as if the gears may have stripped inside the actuator motors and is unable to signal the control module to stop providing power. (i.e., not sending a signal to shut off the motors.)
As a temporary fix to save your battery, you can pull the two 30 amp fuses that power the motors. The next step would be to pull one of the headlight motors off and open the gear box under the motor to see if it is full of ground up nylon off the teeth of the gears. If so, there’s your problem. If not, maybe a more seasoned CAC member can help.
I’m a newbie and headlight issues have been my first major problem.
I hope this is helpful to you.

 

[Hot Rod Roy]

It's more likely to be the three bushings inside one of the gears, than a stripped gear. These bushings are wear items, and are part of the overrunning clutch. When they wear out, the circuit doesn't know that the headlight doors are at their end limit, so the motor continues to run. The bushings are easy to replace, and may be available at your local auto parts store.

Note: These bushings are only used in the '88-'96 headlight doors.

 

[gusgus]

Thanks

Thanks for the insight. I will look at the gears/bushings. Maybe a simpler solution than I thought.

 

[john6277]

Quality rebuilds 95 coupe headlight motor

The headlight motors on my 95 coupe continue to run after the the lights are off and the engine is turned off. Of course this quickly drains the battery. Any suggestions as to a cause and a fix?

Looking at other replies it appears your headlight motor gears may be shot. Nothing new - thanks GM engineers! I had the same issues on mine and I used ebay's "carguy8t8". I did not feel up to cleaning, replacing the gears, and finding the proper lube for about $75 net after core charge and refund Stan solved this problem for me. One last thing, on at the 95 look for any nicks on the passenger headlamp frame. Mine was sometimes hitting the metal coolant line going to the recovery tank and helped to trash this motor. All the best and have Fun. John

 

[Ray0214]

clicking when headlights are turned off. Both kinobs continue to spin

If both knobs on the headlamp motors continue spinning after turning off lights does that mean that both motors have bad gears or bushings? This hasnt been going on long, in fact, it just started doing that in the last few days, however, when I have a low battery and have to recharge it after sitting a while, I noticed the clicking when charging, but now it does it every time I turn the lights off. Also, I have wastched a couple of videos on replacing the gears and bushings. On one videom they removed the worm gear before pulling the plastic gear and busings out, which seems to complicate the repair. other videos have no mention of the worm gear removal. I have a 1995 coupe, does this vette have to have the worm gear removed to replace the plastic gear and bushings.?

 

[ecss]

If both knobs on the headlamp motors continue spinning after turning off lights does that mean that both motors have bad gears or bushings? This hasnt been going on long, in fact, it just started doing that in the last few days, however, when I have a low battery and have to recharge it after sitting a while, I noticed the clicking when charging, but now it does it every time I turn the lights off. Also, I have wastched a couple of videos on replacing the gears and bushings. On one videom they removed the worm gear before pulling the plastic gear and busings out, which seems to complicate the repair. other videos have no mention of the worm gear removal. I have a 1995 coupe, does this vette have to have the worm gear removed to replace the plastic gear and bushings.?

It's pretty rare the gear teeth go bad on the latter model headlight motors like yours. The 3 pellets usually disintegrate and turn into a powder. Dorman makes pellets that were made for older Ford power window motors that had the same problem. Dorman 74410 can be found in the Help isle of Advance Auto Parts and Autozones. Each motor requires 3 pellets.